The annual Elite 50 recognizes graduate and professional student achievements in scholarship and service beyond the classroom.
This year, two Kelley School Evening MBA students were chosen among the 50 honorees, Chrissy Arsenault, MBA’19, and Michael Haven, MBA’18.
They were recognized at the Elite 50 Celebration Dinner in April.
We spoke with each of our Elite 50 recipients about their favorite Kelley moments, Kelley classes, and how the Evening MBA Program has enhanced their career thus far.
Q and A with Chrissy Arsenault, MBA’19
How has the Kelley School Evening MBA experience enhanced your current career and future career goals?
The Kelley School Evening MBA Program helped me seamlessly transition from a healthcare professional role to my current shopper marketer role in the CPG industry. The core courses have trained me well in all business functions, and the faculty members provided me with valuable advice and tips along the way. Additionally, the career management courses and the robust network Kelley provides has helped me fine tune my future career goals as I look to leadership roles in marketing and sales strategy.
What has been your favorite part of the program thus far?
My favorite part of the program is the team and cohort structure. I enjoy being part of a community of talented, motivated leaders in the Indianapolis community. This is definitely a unique benefit to the Kelley Evening MBA versus a fully online or flex MBA program. I also love that career management, coaching, and leadership classes are built into the curriculum.
What has been your favorite class and why?
My favorite class was F523 Financial Management with Professor Greg Durham. Prior to this class, I had no knowledge of corporate finance, theory, and applications. Beyond the textbook and lecture notes, Professor Durham incorporated class discussions, real life examples, team problem sets, and was easily accessible outside of class to help me better understand the challenging materials. I feel much more comfortable with financial concepts and analytics following this class!
What is your advice to current Kelley students?
I would recommend current Kelley students to take advantage of all opportunities to network with fellow students and learn from faculty. Get involved in student organizations and attend panel discussions and conferences to enrich your academic experience.
What is your Kelley moment?
My Kelley moment was following the X511 Foodcorp simulation class. I served as president of the “DairyCorp” executive board and competed against other teams. I knew this role would be challenging, but I wanted to put my skills to the test in a low-risk environment. Though I enjoyed the competitive nature of this simulation, the most important aspect of this class was learning how to work effectively with my peers and better assess my strengths and opportunity areas as a leader. To this date, I am working on some of my opportunity areas with my career coach, Professor Wendeln, who has been an extremely valuable resource. Overall, my Kelley moment gave me the momentum and confidence to become a future executive.
Q and A with Michael Haven, MBA’18
How has the Kelley School Evening MBA experience enhanced your current career and future career goals?
The Kelley Evening MBA experience has prepared me to take on any type of role within any size of organization. I feel like I have become a more well-rounded professional who has more tools to take on career challenges. Furthermore, the program has helped me recognize areas of improvement and tackle those in a safe environment. I feel more confident and prepared to take on any career challenge that comes my way.
What has been your favorite part of the program thus far?
My favorite part of the Evening MBA Program has been the time I have been able to spend with my classmates. We have all had to depend on each other over the 2.5 years of this program and, in that process, we spent a lot of time getting to know each other. We have all learned to trust each other because we had to in order to successfully complete our projects and assignments. You can’t always be at full strength or do all the work on every project. I knew I could trust my classmates to help me and that I didn’t always need to carry the load all by myself. Not only would I love to work with any of classmates in the future, but they are good friends that I plan on staying in touch with the rest of my life.
What has been your favorite class and why?
Operations Management. Professor Awaysheh kept the course challenging and engaging while teaching concepts that I could utilize with my current employer and in my future career. The OM class did an excellent job of tying other classwork together in a more understandable and usable format. We brought together marketing, strategy, law, accounting, and finance in ways that were more practical and understandable to me. (Close-seconds: Law & Macro)
What is your advice to current Kelley students?
Challenge yourself – Put together personal goals for yourself that are ambitious and then reach for them. School is a place where you can try out new tools and techniques in an environment where you won’t be judged for it. Try to do things you have never done before. If you fail at what you tried to do, you will learn those concepts faster.
What is your Kelley moment?
My Kelley moment came at the end of my core classes in the program. I was exhausted and mentally stretched between my work, student, charity, and family commitments. I was not confident in my abilities and felt that I might not be able to continue. Some of my close friends and professors in the program came up to me at a social event and told me how much they respected my hard work and energy. They shared positive and honest feedback about my potential and impact. I felt confident and inspired from their unsolicited comments. I have done everything I could to live up to their vision of me from that day.
Leave a Reply